slept off, is succeeded by extreme mildness, the effect of nervous
exhaustion, and by a dejected repentance, which, to his mother, seemed a
propitious lucidity of the moral sense.

Certainly on seeing her he threw himself on her breast, and began to shed
tears. Madame Rameau had not the heart to reproach him sternly. But by
gentle degrees she made him comprehend the pain he had given to his
father, and the destitution in which he had deserted his parents and his
affianced. In his present mood Gustave was deeply affected by these
representations. He excused himself feebly by dwelling on the excitement
of the times, the preoccupation of his mind, the example of his
companions; but with his excuses he mingled passionate expressions of
remorse, and before daybreak mother and son were completely reconciled.
Then he fell into a tranquil sleep; and Madame Rameau, quite worn out,
slept also in the chair beside him, her arm around his neck. He awoke
before she did at a late hour in the morning; and stealing from her arm,
went to his escritoire, and took forth what money he found there, half of
which he poured into her lap, kissing her till she awoke.

"Mother," he said, "henceforth I will work for thee and my father. Take
this trifle now; the rest I reserve for Isaura."

"Joy! I have found my boy again. But Isaura, I fear that she will not
take thy money, and all thought of her must also be abandoned."

Gustave had already turned to his looking-glass, and was arranging with
care his dark ringlets: his personal vanity--his remorse appeased by this
pecuniary oblation--had revived.

"No," he said gaily, "I don't think I shall abandon her; and it is not